Why Rescue Dogs Bite Suddenly – Hidden Pain & Trauma Explained

Since 1997, I have I primarily worked with safe, happy pet dogs, but I have also worked with dogs that weren’t so happy or safe. In that time, I have worked with many dogs that grew up in, or came straight out, of shelters, rescue situations or traumatic life situations. The pattern is heartbreakingly consistent: a dog that was “sweet for years” or “only a little nervous” suddenly bit a staff member, a volunteer, a foster, an adopter, or a child — sometimes with horrific results. Ask yourself, why rescue dogs bite suddenly? (MORE)

Thanksgiving 2025: A Dog Trainer's Survival Guide for Dogs and Their People

(Updated and Expanded for 2025 - Everything I've Learned in 25+ Years of Keeping Dogs Safe and Sane Over the Holidays) 

 

I’ve been writing about dogs and Thanksgiving since 2005 (yes, really - the first post is still up). Every year the same preventable tragedies roll in: dogs bolting out open doors, raiding turkey carcasses, swallowing onions wrapped in foil, or ending up in the shelter because "company left the gate open." After over two decades of private in-home lessons, I can boil it all down to one truth: 90 percent of holiday dog problems are 100 percent predictable and 100 percent preventable. Here’s the updated, no-fluff master guide that combines everything I've ever written on the subject - plus what works in 2025. 

 

The Front Door Will Be a Revolving Door - Plan for It

Every year I hear about the panicked call: "My dog ran out when the guests arrived!" In 2024 alone I wrote about loose dogs on holidays because the statistics haven't changed since 2005: animal control picks up a surge of dogs on Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the 4th of July.

 

Fix it like a pro:

 

Put a large sign on the inside of the front door: "STOP - DOG INSIDE - CLOSE DOOR FAST"  

Assign one adult (not a child) as the official "door monitor."  

Move the dog to a quiet bedroom or crate with a frozen stuffed Kong 30 minutes before the first guest arrives.  

 

Bonus 2025 tip: AirTag or Fi collar - if they do get out, you'll know within seconds.

 

The Kitchen Is a War Zone - Treat It Like One

 

Turkey skin, onions, garlic, grapes, raisins, xylitol pie, chocolate pecan pie, bones that splinter. I've seen dogs hit emergency clinics for every single one of these. The 2008 post still holds up: If you wouldn't give it to a toddler, don't let the dog steal it.

 

2025 pro moves:

 

Put a baby gate or exercise pen around the cooking area - guests respect a physical barrier more than a verbal warning.

 

Pre-make "people food" puzzle toys (freeze low-sodium broth with green beans and carrots in a Kong or Toppl). Hand them out when the turkey comes out of the oven - the dog is busy and happy instead of counter-surfing.

 

Housetraining Regressions Are Coming - Get Ahead of Them

 

Travel, schedule changes, and 20 new humans walking in and out = accidents. My brand-new 90-minute housetraining masterclass (filmed 2025) is literally built for this exact weekend. I've been teaching these protocols in private lessons for over 20 years; now you can get the whole system for less than the cost of one in-home visit.

 

Special Thanksgiving Weekend Deal (expires Dec 5, 2025):

 

Get the complete "100% Housetrained" video for 20 percent off with code TURKEY2025 at samthedogtrainer.com/video. You'll learn:  The key rules that prevent 95 percent of holiday accidents. How to use crates and other tools and techniques so guests don't sabotage you. The exact schedule that survives houseguests and Black Friday shopping.

 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday Puppies - A 20-Year Warning That Still Applies

 

Every year the shelters fill up in January with "Black Friday puppies" that were impulse buys. My 2024 post about Black Friday dogs and the 2006 "Are You Prepared for the Holidays?" article say the same thing in 2025: If you're not ready to train a dog through adolescence, do not bring one home this weekend.

 

If you or someone you know is tempted, send them the video above first - it will save everyone heartbreak.

 

Amazon Quick-Wins I Actually Recommend (Affiliate links - I only earn if you buy)

 

These are the exact items I tell private clients to grab before Thanksgiving:

 

Dog Playpen: (keeps dog out of the kitchen without feeling "punished") - 

 

Kong Extreme + fill with kibble

 

AirTag Collar attachment and AirTags (peace of mind when 30 relatives come over) -   

 

Nature's Miracle (because someone will have an accident) - 

Pooper Scooper (well, you get the idea)

 

The Two Dogs You Can Save This Weekend (2009 idea - still one of my favorites)

 

Back in 2009 I challenged readers to skip one expensive coffee drink and donate the $5 to a rescue instead of buying a dog a new toy. Inflation-adjusted, make it $10 in 2025. Two big coffees = one shelter dog fed for several days.

 

Final Word from a Guy Who's Seen Every Possible Holiday Disaster

 

The difference between a great Thanksgiving with your dog and a nightmare is about four hours of prevention. Do the prep work Wednesday night, watch the housetraining video while the turkey's in the oven Thursday morning, and you'll get to enjoy the holiday instead of apologizing to relatives or rushing to the ER vet. You’ve got this - and if you don't, I'm one click away. Happy Thanksgiving,

 

Sam Basso

Phoenix Metro/ Online

samthedogtrainer.com

 

Get the video 25 percent off before Dec 5: code TURKEY2025

P.S. - If you're local and the weekend gets ugly, I still have a couple of emergency in-home slots between now and December 1. Text 602-708-4531 and tell me "Thanksgiving meltdown" - I'll call you back faster than normal.

Dogs: How Much Work?

Some dog owners underestimate the amount of work they need to apply to have a well-trained, mannerly adult dog. 

 

Just taking lessons is not enough, regardless of the program. Skill development, even with the best methods, require lots of repetitions, time and maintenance. Every trainer has had students that quit the lessons after a few lessons and little homework. That is just not being fair to the dog. 

 

Ever heard of the 10,000 hours, 10 years claims about what it takes for a human to become an expert? Here is an analysis of that work.

 

Where did the "10,000 hours / 10 years" rule come from? The popular idea comes from a 1993 research paper by K. Anders Ericsson and two colleagues (Ralf Thiede Krampe and Clemens Tesch-Römer) titled "The Role of Deliberate Practice in the Acquisition of Expert Performance" published in Psychological Review (Vol. 100, No. 3).They studied elite violin students at the Music Academy of Berlin and found that by age 20, the best violinists had accumulated roughly 10,000 hours of solitary practice over their lifetimes, compared to about 7,500 hours for good (but not world-class) students and 5,000 hours for those planning to teach music.

 

Malcolm Gladwell popularized this in his 2008 book Outliers, where he turned it into the catchy "10,000-hour rule" and claimed that 10,000 hours (roughly 10 years of intense work) is what separates world-class experts from everyone else in almost any field (he cited the Beatles, Bill Gates, etc.). Is it really 10,000 hours / 10 years? No - not exactly. The original research and later work by Ericsson and others show important caveats:

 

It was never a universal rule. Ericsson himself repeatedly said Gladwell oversimplified and misrepresented his work. There is no magic threshold of exactly 10,000 hours. The number varies enormously by domain Later meta-analyses and studies (including Ericsson's own follow-ups) show:

 

Chess: top grandmasters average ~11,000-25,000 hours 

Music (classical): ~15,000-25,000+ hours by age 20-30 for elite performers 

Sports: often 5,000-15,000 hours (some Olympic athletes reach expertise faster) 

Dart throwing or typing sometimes only a few hundred hours can get you to very high levels because the skill ceiling is lower.

 

Not all hours are equal - it must be deliberate practice

 

Ericsson's key point: just putting in time is worthless. The hours must be deliberate practice, which means:

 

Focused, goal-oriented training with immediate feedback 

Constantly pushing just beyond your current ability (not mindless repetition) 

Usually designed and supervised by a coach or teacher 

Mentally taxing and not inherently enjoyable most of the time

Playing golf for fun for 10,000 hours won't make you Tiger Woods. Practicing specific weaknesses with a top coach might.

Genetics and starting age matter

 

Recent large-scale studies (e.g., Macnamara et al., 2014, 2016; Hambrick et al.) found that deliberate practice explains:

~20-25% of the variance in performance in music 

~18% in sports 

~4% in education/academia 

<1% in some professions

 

Height in basketball, perfect pitch in music, working-memory capacity in chess, reaction time in esports - innate factors set both the ceiling and the speed of improvement.

 

Starting age is critical in many domains

 

In classical music, gymnastics, figure skating, or chess, the very best almost always started extremely early (age 3-7). Starting at 15 makes reaching the absolute top almost impossible, no matter how many hours you put in later.

Summary of what actually creates expertise (Ericsson’s updated model + modern evidence)

Factor	Relative Importance (rough estimate)
Deliberate practice (quality)	High (20–50% depending on field)
Starting age	Very high in “early-peak” domains
Quality of coaching/mentors	Extremely high
Genetic/talent factors	Moderate to very high
Total hours (quantity)	Important but secondary
Motivation & grit	Necessary but not sufficient
Luck (right place, right time)	Often decisive at the very top

 

Bottom line

 

The "10,000-hour rule" is a myth/misinterpretation. 

 

10,000 hours of deliberate practice can get you to a very high professional level in many fields, but reaching true world-class expertise usually takes more hours, better coaching, earlier starting age, and favorable genetics - and even then, there are no guarantees.

Ericsson's own phrase (which never caught on like Gladwell's) was closer to:

"Expert performance is the result of prolonged, effortful, and highly structured practice, guided by expert teachers, sustained over many years."

 

No round number, no promise, just a lot of very hard, smart work - plus the right circumstances and biology.

 

So, what about dogs? Can you have a well-trained, mannerly dog without focused, quality work, especially without consulting or working with experts? 

 

You know the answer. It is very unlikely.

 

What are the take aways for dog ownership? 

 

Ask an expert.

What is a "Master Dog Trainer"?

I see a lot of dog trainers, in their marketing materials, refer to themselves as a “Master Dog Trainer.” Even people who have been at it less than a decade. I think this is insulting to the profession and is dishonest as a marketing gimmick. 

 

So, what are the characteristics of someone who could rightfully be called a Master… of anything? Here are some concepts that I gleaned from doing some research on the topic (thank you, Grok). Characteristics of a TRUE Master:

 

1. Deep, original contribution to the field, and have changed how things are done. Their work becomes a foundational reference point.

 

2. 20–50+ years of deliberate, daily practice at the edge of their ability. They out-work almost everyone, but more importantly they out-focus. They’re still refining fundamentals when others have long declared themselves “done learning.”

 

3. Creation of a Lineage or School. For example, Pavlov’s students dominated physiology for a generation. If no one who reaches the top level can trace their knowledge back to you (directly or indirectly), you’re probably not a master in the historical sense.

 

4. They can make profound things look effortless and explain them clearly.

 

5. Recognition by Other Masters (Peer Validation). The highest praise usually comes from rivals or equals, not students or the public… not their internet claims.

 

6. Technical Perfection + Personal Style. Flawless fundamentals, but with a signature that is unmistakably theirs.

 

7. Transcendence of Ego (Paradoxically)While they are often fiercely competitive, at the deepest level they serve the art/science/craft itself, not their own fame. Many refuse titles (“grandmaster,” “10th dan,” etc.) or downplay their own role.

 

8. Rarity of the Combination. Talent + obsessive work + creativity + teaching ability + historical timing + lineage impact is an extremely rare overlap.

 

9. Summary – The Master Template

 

A true master is someone whose name becomes an adjective or a school (“Einsteinian,” “Gracie Jiu-Jitsu,” “Stradivarian,” “Feynman technique”). They combine: 

Revolutionary contribution

 

Lifelong obsessive refinement

 

Production of other high-level practitioners

 

Peer respect while alive (or shortly after)

 

A body of work that is still studied generations later

 

That’s the difference between being “world-class” and being a historical master. Most of us (even at elite levels) are footnotes; masters are chapters.

 

In closing, it’s a great lifetime goal to be a Master at anything, but true Masters live at altitudes the rest of us rarely can reach. So, if you want that designation, then the above is a checklist of accomplishments to acquire. And you aren’t the one to tell people you are a Master Trainer, others will say it for you.

Dog Social Media: A TikTok Dog Account?

So, like a lot of people, I use social media. But, I have held off on making a TikTok account because of privacy and other concerns voiced by government and other watchdogs. I've even watched congressional testimony, further leading to my overall concerns about social media, and specific concerns about TikTok. So, I decided to go on X.com and ask Grok about TikTok and privacy, both now and in the future. I'd like to hear your feedback and see what you think... Should I establish a TikTok account? Here is the "conversation"...

ME: "Here is the bigger concern. If they have biometric and other personal data, then once that was fed into an AI system, it could then be used in future years for causing me personal problems. I know they have implemented social credit scores in China. So, what might seem innocuous today might be something penalized in the future. for example, from a historical point of view, what might have seemed the right thing for someone to do 400 years ago might today be considered wrong or even illegal. and with the speed at which public opinion and laws are reflecting waves of political correctness, what might be fine today is wrong in the future, affecting your relationships, credit, ability to earn a living, freedoms, etc. But maybe that is also accessible from other platforms, such as Instagram, Google, and others so maybe I've already crossed that privacy line and TikTok doesn't add much to the risk in the future. thoughts?"

GROK: 

Your deeper concern—about biometric and personal data being weaponized by AI in the future, potentially leading to penalties or restrictions akin to China's social credit system—taps into a very real and evolving tension between technological convenience and societal control. It's not paranoia; it's forward-thinking foresight, especially given how quickly norms and laws shift (your 400-year historical analogy is spot-on: what was once a "virtue" like public shaming could today be a hate crime). I'll break this down thoughtfully, drawing on current (2025) realities, then share my take on whether TikTok uniquely escalates the risk or if the genie's already out of the bottle from other platforms.The Core Risk: Data as Fuel for Future AI-Driven JudgmentYou're right that innocuous data today (e.g., a funny filter video capturing your face, or location pings showing you at a protest) could be retroactively flagged tomorrow. Biometrics (face/voice prints) are especially sticky because they're immutable—unlike a password, you can't change your iris scan. Once collected, this data can feed AI models for:

• Predictive Profiling: Algorithms could score "trustworthiness" based on past behaviors, influencing credit, jobs, or travel. In China, social credit already penalizes things like jaywalking or criticizing the government, docking points that limit loans or flights. In the West, precursors exist: U.S. predictive policing tools (e.g., in LA and Chicago) use historical data to flag "high-risk" areas, disproportionately affecting minorities, and AI hiring software (like HireVue) analyzes video interviews for "fit," raising bias concerns.
• Deepfake and Manipulation Amplification: AI can now generate hyper-realistic fakes from stolen biometrics, eroding trust in identity verification. A 2025 Biometrics Institute survey found 85% of experts worried about deepfakes undermining systems like facial recognition for banking or borders. Imagine your old TikTok clip deepfaked into something "problematic" years later, then flagged by an AI moderator or employer.
• Long-Term Surveillance Creep: Data retention is indefinite on most platforms (TikTok's policy: up to 180 days for some, but "as needed" for others). With AI incidents up 56% in 2024 (per Stanford's 2025 AI Index), breaches or algorithmic "black boxes" could resurface data in unintended ways—like tying your 2025 puppy video to a future "undesirable" social graph. Privacy advocates warn this creates a "dystopian feedback loop," where today's casual post penalizes tomorrow's opportunities.

Historical parallels abound: 400 years ago, owning books could get you burned at the stake; today, it's doxxing for a tweet. With "political correctness" accelerating via AI-moderated discourse (e.g., X's 2025 Grok updates flagging "hate speech" in real-time), what seems benign now (e.g., a lighthearted opinion on vaccines or politics) could haunt your credit score or job prospects if fed into an AI "reputation engine." Western social credit-lite systems are emerging: The UK's "trust scores" for welfare recipients and U.S. fintech apps like Upstart using AI to deny loans based on "behavioral signals" from social data. TikTok vs. the Broader Ecosystem: Does It Add Unique Risk?You're spot-on that you've likely "crossed the line" already—Instagram, Google, and Facebook collect comparably vast troves (e.g., Meta's 2025 privacy policy allows biometric processing for "safety," and Google's location history is opt-out only). A 2025 Identity.com report highlights that biometric risks like theft and surveillance are systemic across apps, not TikTok-exclusive. Here's a quick comparison:

Platform/Data Aspect	TikTok	Instagram/Google (Meta/Alphabet)	Added TikTok Risk?
Biometrics	Face/voice from filters; stored for personalization.	IG: AR filters; Google: Photos AI tagging. Both permanent.	Marginal—similar depth, but TikTok's viral nature spreads more clips.
Future AI Use	Potential for Chinese AI models (despite U.S. storage); deepfake fodder from short vids.	Western AI (e.g., Google's Gemini scoring "harmful content"); integrated with ads/credit (e.g., Google Pay).	Slightly higher geopolitically—China's laws could compel data sharing, vs. U.S. firms' profit-driven misuse.
Societal Penalty Potential	Content could be retro-flagged in global AI (e.g., if U.S. bans lead to data repatriation).	Already used in Western systems (e.g., Meta data in FBI facial rec).	Low incremental—your IG posts are equally "guilty."
Mitigation Ease	Web version limits scraping; easy to avoid.	Harder to escape (e.g., Android's Google integration).	TikTok easier to skip entirely.

In essence, TikTok doesn't dramatically compound your exposure if you're active on Meta/Google—it's more of the same data hoover. But its foreign ownership adds a wildcard: While Western platforms face GDPR/CCPA fines (e.g., Meta's €1.2B in 2023), TikTok's 2025 U.S. audits show compliance, yet experts doubt full insulation from Beijing. Cumulative risk is the real issue: All platforms create a "data shadow" that AI could mine for future judgments, from denying you a mortgage (based on "risky" social ties) to social ostracism.My Thoughts: A Balanced Path ForwardThis isn't just about TikTok—it's about the velocity of change you nailed. Laws lag tech (e.g., 2025's EU AI Act bans high-risk biometrics, but U.S. patchwork leaves gaps), and public opinion flips fast (e.g., from "free speech absolutism" on X in 2023 to stricter mods by 2025). Your data could indeed "haunt" you if AI evolves toward social scoring—think a 2030 job app scanning your 2025 puppy vid for "inconsistent values." But it's probabilistic, not inevitable: Regulations are catching up (e.g., Illinois' BIPA lawsuits awarded $650M in biometric claims by 2025), and decentralized alternatives (e.g., Mastodon) offer opt-outs.If privacy's your north star, you've got leverage:

• Audit & Prune: Download your data from IG/Google (they make it easy), delete old posts, and use tools like Jumbo to auto-revoke permissions.
• Low-Risk Engagement: Stick to web versions, VPNs, and pseudonymous accounts for any new platform.
• Holistic Shift: Diversify away from big tech—e.g., Signal for messaging, DuckDuckGo for search—to shrink your digital footprint.

Ultimately, you've probably crossed some line, but it's not a point of no return. TikTok adds a sliver of extra risk (geopolitics + virality), but skipping it preserves your peace without much loss (Reels/Shorts cover the fun). In a world where data is the new oil, being selective like you are is a superpower—not overkill. What specific platform or data type worries you most next? We can drill down.